Thousands Of Troubled Honda And Acura Cars, NHTSA Opens Massive Investigation

JAKARTA Bad news is hitting one of the largest manufacturers in the world, Honda, along with its luxury car division Acura in the United States (US).

Thousands of Honda and Acura vehicle owners are now facing serious problems after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) launched an investigation into widespread engine failures. The investigation concerns a number of popular US models, including Acura TLX and MDX, as well as Honda Pilots, Odyssey, and Ridgeline.

Launching Car and Driver and Carscoops, Tuesday, August 26, the investigation conducted by NHTSA focused on a 3.5 liter V6 engine mounted on the five models. The incoming report reached 414 cases of connecting rod pad failure which, according to NHTSA, constituted a large and serious number.

This failure has the potential to cause total engine damage, which of course creates enormous repair costs. It is estimated that there are around 1.4 million vehicles that have the potential to be affected by this problem.

In addition to 414 reports to NHTSA, American Honda itself has received 2,598 additional incidents, bringing the total known cases to 3,012. These reports even cover seven incidents of accidents or fires related to the matter.

This case is not the first time this engine has been in the spotlight. Previously, in 2023, around 248,999 vehicles were recalled due to production defects on the engine's engkol (crankshaft) axis, which could also lead to early wear on the connecting rod pad. However, the NHTSA stated that this latest failure was "out of scope" from previous withdrawals and was not caused by the same production defects.

Currently, it is not clear how the outcome of this investigation will turn out. However, the investigation includes the following models:

Acura MDX 2016-2020

Acura TLX 2018-2020

Honda Pilot 2016-2020

Honda Ridgeline 2017-2019

Honda Odyssey 2018-2020

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